IBO Fest

Description: “IBO fest happens every year. Every August. Every second week in August. The cultural association will like rent a festival space. People are selling food. People are giving away food. There’s live music. Choreographed dances, masquerade shows. It’s the biggest collection of IBOS in the area and around the state. It’s fun. The food is overpriced but it’s good. It’s just good to see everybody. There’s always jollof rice. There’s plain rice with tomato soup. Chicken, meat pies, fried fish, fufu, mashed yams you eat with your hands, Nigerian biscuit.”

2. My informant knew of this tradition because he had been to one first hand.

3. I walked into his dorm and he was just about to go to sleep. His roommate had fallen asleep and I asked him if I could grab some quick folklore from him before he crashed. He said sure.

4. This is an interesting piece because it’s very Nigerian but is happening in America. It’s this entire subculture of people who have their own folklore and jokes and riddles. They’re not entirely Nigerian and they’re not entirely American. Even so, it’s hard to say who exactly is American. We all bring our culture to this place, and that’s what IBO fest does. Except it’s arguable that this isn’t even Nigerian. It’s some new mixture and combination that results in its own identity.